Now Playing -- The Movie Review Podcast

Did you want to take Karate lessons in 1984? If so, you weren't alone! When The Karate Kid first came out it was a smash hit, earning an Oscar nomination for Pat Morita and entering "Wax on, Wax off" into the cultural lexicon of movie phrases. Now, with this classic story being reinterpreted for modern audiences with this summer's remake starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, we at Now Playing will "wax on" with our Karate Kid retrospective series. Is this first installment worth the legacy? Listen in and find out!

Nine, Ten, Freddy's back in theaters again--and Now Playing is back also with the ultimate review in our Nightmare on Elm Street retrospective series as we review the brand new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Gone are Robert Englund and Wes Craven, replaced by Jackie Earl Haley and Samuel Bayer, bringing a new, darker Freddy to a new generation of horror lovers. Join Stuart, Arnie, and Brock as they review this film, giving a review from the point of view of a horror fan, a Freddy fan, and a newbie to horror films. We compare the new Nightmare on Elm Street to the original, and wrap up our entire Nightmare on Elm Street reflecting on the series as a whole, Freddy's place in the pantheon of horror icons, and comparing how the new Nightmare reboot compares to other recent horror reboots. Does Jackie Earl Haley give audiences the dangerous, evil Freddy they'd always dreamed of? Listen to find out!

Having already fallen for the strong silent type during last year's Friday The 13th retrospective, Now Playing switches teams for the guy with a good sense of humor in this totally new review of Freddy vs Jason. Is this crossover cage match a fitting farewell to Robert England's Krueger, or are fans of the Nightmare on Elm Street series the real losers in this showdown of the slasher movie icons? Listen in and find out!

A decade after A Nightmare On Elm Street, Freddy was living the dream - he had the souls, the stardom, the house and kids, and most importantly the reputation as one of cinema's most celebrated killers. But what Kruegar really wants to do is direct! So now The Evil Formerly Known As Freddy (TEFKAF) steps out of the movies to meet his makers. Is Craven's post-modern reinvention an inspired new direction for the series, or a trail of breadcrumbs leading nowhere? Listen and find out!

After audiences threw the baby out with the bad slaughter in their mass rejection of Dream Child, New Line knew the days of turning Freddy into Benjamins was drawing short. The sixth entry in the Nightmare on Elm Street series pulls out all the stops - 3-D special effects, star cameos, and a fully revealed origin story...but is the Final Nightmare a fitting finale or a flaccid funeral? Listen to find out!

Reigning Dream Master Alice knocked out Kruger the last time, only to find herself knocked up with an unborn son whose prenatal naps mean preternatural nightmares for the teenage baby mama and her graduating Springwood friends. Does this latest chapter deliver a Super Freddy movie or become an unworthy heir to the ongoing Nightmare On Elm Street series? Listen to find out!

In 1987 Freddy was the Box Office Master by scaring up more money than he ever had before, and so in 1988, rushed into production despite such obstacles as a writers strike, Freddy was back again to face a new crop of Springwood teens. Freddy had a new funny, action-oriented feel, and it became Freddys top-grossing solo film, but does box office reflect quality? Listen to find out!

Freddy is back and bigger than ever! (literally. He is taller than a four-story building) And also back are John Saxon and Heather Langenkamp from the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie, and they are set for an epic showdown with the dream stalker. Is this the horror film of your dreams or just another sloppy sequel? In the name of Lowrek, Prince of Elves, listen and find out!

1, 2, Freddy's coming for you! The reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street hits theaters April. You can start getting ready now with the hosts of Now Playing as we revisit and review all the films in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. A Nightmare on Elm Street burned up theaters in 1984, so New Line was quick to respond to audience demand with Freddys Revenge. Now Freddy uses the body of new Elm Street resident Jesse to find all new victims! But is this movie hot, hot, hot or just another cold shower with coach? Listen to find out!

1, 2, Freddy's coming for you! The reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street hits theaters April. You can start getting ready now with the hosts of Now Playing as we revisit and review all the films in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. In this first episode, we see Johnny Depp's big screen debut as Freddy Kruger haunts four teens in this seminal horror classic. Listen now, and whatever you do...don't fall asleep!

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are back (as is Leo's Bah-stan accent) in this noir thriller about an island that serves as a residence for the criminally insane. Scorsese's most commercial feature since Cape Fear, listen as Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob tell you if this is a movie you'd be crazy to miss!

Jack Nicholson. Alec Baldwin. Martin Sheen. Matt Damon. Leonardo DiCaprio. It's an all-star cast, but how well can these movie icons fake a Bah-stan accent? We get to find out in The Departed, Martin Scorsese's first organized crime film since Goodfellas. This is the film that finally won Scorsese his Oscar, but does the film deserve it or was Scorsese just given a de facto "Lifetime Achievement Award"? Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart have watched the film, so listen and find out!

Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings.  George Lucas's Blockbusting may sound like a book chronicling George Lucas's rise to box office dominance, first through his Star Wars films, and then through Indiana Jones and the other movies he's been a part of; however, this book is actually a cultural and financial look at movies through history, including what Lucas and the editors deemed the 300 "Blockbuster" movies from 1913 through 2005. On this Now Playing Podcast Book Review, Arnie interviews Alex Ben Block to discuss ho

Howard Hughes--director, engineer, nut-job, AVIATOR. Martin Scorsese re-teamed with Leonardo DiCaprio for their second film, a biopic about eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes and the result is a stylistic, three hour opus. Is this film the Spruce Goose of Oscar Bait, or can it take flight? Listen to Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob's review to find out!

Only a year after the events of 9/11 Martin Scorsese released a film about the people who built New York--Gangs of New York. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, this film had Oscar Bait written all over it, and with Cameron Diaz thrown in audience turnout was assured as well. But how well does the movie work, and does it help Leo recover from his post-Titanic career haze? Listen to find out!

Now Playing is taking a trip Back to the Future! Join us as Brock, Stuart and Arnie take a look back and discuss all three films in this beloved time-travelling comedy adventure series. We conclude our series with Back to the Future Part III, released in 1990, where Marty travels to the Old West to save Doc Brown from Mad Dog Tannen's bullet in his back. Does this series end with a hootenanny, or does this movie have us wanting to stick our heads in a water trough? Listen in and find out!

Now Playing is taking a trip Back to the Future! Join us as Brock, Stuart and Arnie take a look back and discuss all three films in this beloved time-travelling comedy adventure series. We continue our series with the first sequel Back to the Future Part II, released in 1989, where Marty and Doc travel to the future, the past, and then further in the past, all to prevent Biff from using the time machine for his own gain. Does this sequel have 1.21 gigawatts of goodness, or does this movie leave us wanting less? Listen in and find out!

Now Playing is taking a trip Back to the Future! Join us as Brock, Stuart and Arnie take a look back and discuss all three films in this beloved time-travelling comedy adventure series. We start our retrospective series with the modern-day classic Back to the Future. Has the original movie stood the test of time, or have Marty and Doc outstayed their welcome in pop culture history? Listen in and find out!

Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings.  Stephen King's latest work, Under the Dome, is his third-longest novel to date, bested in page count only by his classic works The Stand and It. Does this new novel, about a small Maine town cut off from the rest of the world by an unseen force, meet the standards of those books? Listen to find out in this totally spoiler-free review! (Note: There is a spoiler-ish conversation AFTER the review regarding one of the book's larger plot twists, but you will have plenty of warning so yo

12 years after his last theatrical release, "King of the world" James Cameron is back and once again astounding audiences with bleeding edge special effects in his new epic Avatar, boasting some of the best 3-D filmmaking ever. Does the movie live up to the hype? Is the story worthy of the technology? Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart critique this film, so listen to find out!